


Transform

by yeaka



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Anti-form, Gen, M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 18:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18697036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Axel witnesses Roxas in a form change.





	Transform

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Kingdom Hearts or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

They’re surrounded. It isn’t _hopeless_ , exactly, because Axel doesn’t believe in giving up, but the streets of Twilight Town are definitely testing his limits. The back alley they’ve found is teaming with Heartless, and not just the small, easy-to-kill little bug-like shadows either, but the big, hulking creatures that seem to have developed strategies even in their mindless violence. Axel slaying them is pointless—he can’t free their hearts. But he fights anyway, because Saïx tells him to, and because he couldn’t possibly let Roxas face them alone. 

At the other end of the closed-in alley, Roxas is going wild. Axel can feel his desperation, hear the strain in his voice, even see the flecks of sweat fly off him as he swings his keyblade around. He cuts through the darkness as best he can, but there’s always _more_ , crawling along the walls and erupting out of the ground. Axel keeps trying to fight his way over, and they keep cutting him off. The original strategy was to divide and conquer, but that was before they were overwhelmed, and now all Axel wants is to cocoon around Roxas and protect him.

There’s a moment where Axel loses his line of sight completely. The Heartless all seem to swirl together, becoming an impenetrable wall of black and the occasional flicker of pale yellow. With a roar worthy of a lion from the pride lands, Axel rips through it in an avalanche of flames. He’s just in time to see Roxas go down—his keyblade knocked aside as a Neoshadow slashes across his back. 

Roxas’ scream curdles Axel’s blood. In a final surge of strength, Axel runs forward, only for a burst of light to knock him back. He’s tossed across the pavement, landing on his ass. There’s no time to recover. His weapons clatter to his side. The Heartless swell back and quiver as _Roxas_ tears through them. 

Except it isn’t really Roxas. Where the bright, beautiful boy that Axel knows once stood, there’s a dark, fuming shadow of a man. Black smoke seems to waft off its limbs and joints, its features obscured and its eyes a searing yellow-white. It’s hunched over, and when it darts at its targets, it moves on all fours, scurrying like a feral beast. It rips apart the Heartless with the ease of a keyblade and the fierceness of a monster. It clears the ring around it in a matter of seconds, and then it turns to fix its piercing gaze on Axel.

Axel’s transfixed. A cold sweat twists down his spine, and he half-consciously reaches for his chakrams, slowly rising to his feet with them. Then the shadow rushes forward, and suddenly Axel’s knocked over again. His head thuds painfully against the ground, his body pinned down by a purposeful weight. A part of him just _knows_ it’s Roxas—he can feel it—he’d know Roxas anywhere. But that doesn’t stop him from experiencing a pitiful rush of nerves. It has claws instead of fingers, and they dig into his organization cloak with the power to rip it to shreds. 

He half expects it to destroy him. He’s dressed like the shadows were, and most monsters can’t tell one foe from another. A deep rumbling flitters out of the creature’s throat, and Axel tenses, expecting it to pounce. 

In sharp, jerky movements, it leans down. It sniffs at Axel, and he turns his head slightly away but otherwise stays still. It follows him, locking their eyes together.

Axel tentatively breathes, “ _Roxas_...”

The creature twitches. Then it _purrs_ , adjusting atop Axel, shifting around and eventually flattening down over him, snuggling into his side and nosing at his shoulder. Axel slowly lets himself relax, even draping an arm around it. 

When his fingers brush through the black, spiky hair, he finds it just as soft as Roxas’. The creature seems to like that, crooning and nuzzling into him, so he gently pets it.

It closes its eyes, losing the last bit of light. Axel waits until the rest of the black ebbs away, and the peach and gold colours gradually return. Roxas is left sleeping atop him, surprisingly peaceful. 

Roxas is full of surprises. Axel lets him rest a little while, then wakes him and brings him home, keeping yet another secret just between the two of them.


End file.
